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2 Ian Ramsey, theology and ‘trans-disciplinary’ medical ethics During the 1960s and 1970s Anglican theologians increasingly endorsed ‘trans-disciplinary’ discussion of new procedures such as IVF in societies and journals dedicated to medical ethics.1 Although theological engagement with medical ethics was by no means new, it increased from the 1960s thanks to a decline in religious belief. Figures such as Ian Ramsey, an Oxford theologian and later Bishop of Durham, endorsed greater engagement with social and moral issues to maintain the Church’s relevance in
The international growth and influence of bioethics has led some to identify it as a decisive shift in the location and exercise of 'biopower'. This book provides an in-depth study of how philosophers, lawyers and other 'outsiders' came to play a major role in discussing and helping to regulate issues that used to be left to doctors and scientists. It discusses how club regulation stemmed not only from the professionalising tactics of doctors and scientists, but was compounded by the 'hands-off' approach of politicians and professionals in fields such as law, philosophy and theology. The book outlines how theologians such as Ian Ramsey argued that 'transdisciplinary groups' were needed to meet the challenges posed by secular and increasingly pluralistic societies. It also examines their links with influential figures in the early history of American bioethics. The book centres on the work of the academic lawyer Ian Kennedy, who was the most high-profile advocate of the approach he explicitly termed 'bioethics'. It shows how Mary Warnock echoed governmental calls for external oversight. Many clinicians and researchers supported her calls for a 'monitoring body' to scrutinise in vitro fertilisation and embryo research. The growth of bioethics in British universities occurred in the 1980s and 1990s with the emergence of dedicated centres for bioethics. The book details how some senior doctors and bioethicists led calls for a politically-funded national bioethics committee during the 1980s. It details how recent debates on assisted dying highlight the authority and influence of British bioethicists.
as IVF during the late 1960s and 1970s, and shows how this was led by Anglican theologians. I detail how these theologians argued that ‘trans-disciplinary groups’ were vital to discussing medical ethics, and outline how this formed part of efforts to stay relevant in the face of a decline in religious belief. I outline how theologians such as Ian Ramsey argued that ‘transdisciplinary groups’ were needed to meet the challenges posed by secular and increasingly pluralistic societies, and examine their links with influential figures in the early history of American
Warnock, embryos and moral expertise 143 where claiming ‘you ought to do X’ at once commits me to doing so and instructs others to do likewise.15 But Hare’s work was still concerned with the nature of moral language, not with concrete questions of what ought to happen in specific situations. Even when he spoke at meetings on practical subjects, such as Ian Ramsey’s symposium on ‘Personality and Science’, Hare simply clarified the use of words and concepts such as ‘personality’.16 Like their colleagues elsewhere, Oxford philosophers firmly believed they ‘had no more right to
Moot failed to reach agreement on any concrete proposals, and it wound up shortly after Mannheim’s death in 1947. See Grimley, ‘Moot’. 129 Anon, ‘Introduction’, Bulletin of the Churches’ Council of Healing, no. 1 (1967) pp. 3–4 (p. 3). Held in the Ian Ramsey Papers at Durham Cathedral Archives (uncatalogued at time of writing). Henceforth Ramsey archives. 130 Anon, ‘British Medical Association: Proceedings of Council’, British Medical Journal, Vol. 1 (1947) pp. 103–14 (p. 112). 131 Ibid, p. 112. 132 Ibid, p. 105. 133 Ibid, p. 112. 134 Ibid. 135 George T
train journey to a debate on surrogacy at the University of Aberdeen, Harris met Anthony Dyson, professor of social and pastoral theology at the University of Manchester. Like Ian Ramsey and Gordon Dunstan, Dyson believed that theology needed to engage with contemporary concerns to remain relevant. He also shared their enthusiasm for interdisciplinary collaboration, which he had had the chance to satisfy when he served on the Warnock inquiry between 1982 and 1984.98 These convictions were clear in a talk to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, when Dyson